1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an image forming apparatus configured to manage information with reference to a lifespan of a consumable product, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an image forming apparatus using an electro-photographing method is an apparatus configured to form an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive medium using a light exposing unit such as a laser scanning unit (LSU) by receiving image data that corresponds to a desired image, to form a toner image by supplying a toner to the electrostatic latent image by using a developing unit, to transfer the toner image to an intermediate transfer belt, and to form a desired color image by transferring the toner image that is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt to a printing medium.
As for the image forming apparatus described above to form a color image, the image forming apparatus needs to be provided with a number of consumable products, and conventionally, through a CPU processor, the information with reference to the lifespan of the consumable product is calculated, and by storing such in a non-volatile memory part provided at a main board, the calculated information is managed. However, when replacing the main board with a new main board in a case of a defect generated at the main board, the information with reference to the lifespan of the consumable product, which is calculated and stored in the meantime, is initialized, and thus, a difficulty of being unable to manage the lifespan of the various components installed at the image forming apparatus occurs.
Meanwhile, as to resolve such difficulties, a method of separately removing a non-volatile memory part provided at the conventional main board, and reattaching the non-volatile memory part on a replaced main board is known, but this method is provided with an inconvenience in performing a replacement task of the non-volatile memory part, and during the replacement process of the non-volatile memory part, if a mistake by a user occurs (a service technician), the memory part may be damaged.